store lighting vs beer, any employees out there?

Last night I went into one of my favorite local beer stores and as I was grabbing something delicious from one of the display cases, I noticed the fluorescent lighting that sits hidden between each door. I've always known it was there, but have just never really thought about it before in relation to the possibility of leaving beer light struck.

So I got on here and searched around (and google) for a while and didn't really come up with anything specific, so I am wondering - is there an industry standard regarding lighting in retail stores? I read about window film, and found a manufacturer's website talking about lighting,

http://www.safespectrum.com/applications_beer_wine.php

-but no real consensus on if there is really any focus from the retailers.

I did read mentions of proximity to lighting, the relatively low UV compared to direct sunlight, and product turnover, but would love to hear from anyone in the business if this is a concern that is taken into consideration.

THIS is exactly why I never buy a beer in any color glass other than brown.

Hang Glider said:

THIS is exactly why I never buy a beer in any color glass other than brown.

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Not to mention that all the best beers come in brown bottles and pretty much any beer you can put a cap on comes in a bottle.

Glass absorbs most UV, and fluorescents don't kick off very much UV at all. If you notice, most stores have the beer refrigerators at the back of the store, away from the front windows and sun exposure.

I'd say there is little concern for lightstruck beer even in a well-lit case, so long as it isn't near sunlight (or reflected sunlight). But you can't tell where the beer has been before it went in the case. If they unloaded the beer truck on the sunny loading dock and left it there for a while, might be bad.

But practically, if they were a package store losing business because all of their beer was bad, they would probably go out of business. Storing beer isn't rocket science and most places do fine.

A local craft beer bar around here actually keeps their beer in the cooler with no lights on. They have a bunch of flashlights that customers are supposed to use to find their beer of choice. Seems a little gimmicky to me, especially since half the coolers get hit with almost direct sunlight during the day. To be fair, the beers nearest to the windows are mostly BMC or other canned beers so maybe they’ve put some thought into that aspect too.

Honestly its good marketing because when I go there to get a take out 6-pack I usually sip a draft beer and peruse through the coolers for 15-20 minutes.

hoppyhoppyhippo said:

Not to mention that all the best beers come in brown bottles and pretty much any beer you can put a cap on comes in a bottle.

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What about cans? A lot of breweries are now canning some of their beers. Sierra Nevada, Oskar Blues, and The Alchemist's Heady Topper come to mind.

hoppyhoppyhippo said:

Not to mention that all the best beers come in brown bottles and pretty much any beer you can put a cap on comes in a bottle.

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Hmm you must not drink too many Belgian beers I'm guessing?

A store that has an amazing selection in Bloomington isn't actually a liquor store, so they can't have a beer refrigerator. And they insist on keeping Saison Dupont and others with green bottles on the top shelf right under the lights. Ugh.

There isn't enough energy in a flourescent lightbulb to make that big of a change to the hop oils in beer. I wouldn't sweat it.